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Bas'chiun
Bas'chiun is a vast city on the planet Quorn'est. In fact, its the only city as the planet is mostly barren and uninhabitable. this is due to the planet being tidally locked by its star. This means that one side of the planet always faces the star, and the other all ways faces away, causing one side to be a boiling desert with multitudes of volcanoes and the other to be a vast, frigged ice cap. Still, the millions of citizens of Bas'chiun, nestled on the boarder of these to regions, call it home. Founding Seven thousand years ago, the city of Bas’chiun boasted untold violence and brutality, with nine factions constantly waging war against one or more of the others. Realizing that this never ending war would ultimately destroy everything, a council between all nine factions was held, where the leader Athorn suggested establishing a new order, powered by magic, which would end the violence and ensure the survival of the city. While some of the order-phobic factions had initial disagreements, the other leaders eventually concurred that such a pact was the best chance of survival. Each of the factions signed this new constitution. Over time, these factions became the nine orders of Bas’chiun. The power of this constitution is subtle; it prevents any faction from dabbling into the business of any other faction or disturbing the stable power balance among the nine by twisting circumstance and coincidence to nullify the Constitution. While the constitution is credited with bringing relative peace and prosperity to the plane, sporadic clashes between factions do still occur. Not all of Bas’chiun's citizens are a member of an order; the vast majority of them have no attachment. However, they are a required part of daily life, and their presence is felt everywhere in Bas’chiun. The Orders One of the core powers of the Constitution was defining the role each faction would play in maintaining the city of Bas’chiun, giving each one a monopoly on a good or service. The Pirunos Legion The Pirunos Legion adheres to a set of absolute laws. This righteous devotion to this law gives the legion their furor, their power, and the awe with which they are beheld. Led by the avian Rosa, Pirunos Archangel, the Pirunos are the premier fighters and enforcers of justice of Bas’chiun. Very few dare to go into head-on-head conflict with the Pirunos, as they are simply the most skilled and most impassioned fighters in the City of Bas’chiun. Unlike the Athornis Senate, who also uphold the purity of the law, the Pirunos champion action and swift retribution, leaving legal subtlety and moral ambiguity to the bureaucrats and the politicians. This is why the Pirunos Legion was made the city guard by the Constitution, chosen to enforce the cities laws. Their absolute belief in justice makes them swift and effective in neutralizing any conflict. To those innocent, the Pirunos may seem to be the upholders of righteousness and truth, to those guilty, the Pirunos can be tyrannical. Also Known As: The City Guard Legion Leader: Rosa, Pirunos Archangel. She is an example of justice and purity who serves as a living ideal for the guild. Legion Champion: The Pirunos veteran Alexos. Legion Founder: the Avian Rox-Illech Legion Hall: Sol hall, Fortress of the Legion. Supposedly the most fortified structure in Bas’chiun, Sol hall is part fortress, part military base, part temple. Values: Passionate belief in law and order, and, to a lesser extent, the cultured civilization that Bas’chiun represents. Depending on who is discussing them, they may be the bastions of stability or blind, close-minded zealots. Structure: Fully military. The Pirunos view Rosa as more of a figurehead than an actual commander-in-chief. Still, many generals revere her and would heed any command she gave. Goal: To sustain order using strict law enforcement. The Volic Guild The Volic's original role in Bas’chiun is no longer known. Now, the Volic Combine spends their resources "improving" the life in Bas’chiun - whether or not the life in question wants to be improved at all. The Volic regularly annex abandoned regions of Bas’chiun, growing their territory like a fungus. The rest of their time is spent creating new - and often frightening - species of creatures that not only survive in the concrete jungles of Bas’chiun, but thrive. As improving nature requires understanding it first, the Volic are also researchers second only to the Istot, and they are also responsible for most of Bas’chiun's medical advances. They also provide free food to Bas’chiun's poor, grown in massive underground farms. Food grown here is typically consumed only as a last resort because of its questionable origin Also known as: The Swarm Guild Leader: Mormig, Volic Visionary. The visionary pioneer of numerous technologies, the guild quickly took up Mormig's banner after his first success at creating specialized life forms. Mormig believes the key to evolving life on Bas’chiun is to "design" it for the city. In his work he relies more on a kind of formalized intuition than analytical research. Guild Champion: Experiment Kraw, a monstrosity of a creature that has the power to choose its own evolution. The brainchild of Mormig himself and a product of his desire to create the ultimate life form. Founder: Sogir, the legendary Biomancer. Revered by the Volic as a god, Sogir has existed since before the signing of the constitution. He has been thought to be dead several times, but always seems to return somehow. It is believed that he is also the most powerful magical being in the entire City. Guild Hall: Sogir’s Restless Tomb. Once a Nyathien cathedral, the tomb has been so twisted by Volic magic that it actually came to life! It is believed that every time the centre of Volic territory shifts, the tomb moves to the new centre spot. Here, the Combine design and perfect their most secret biological projects. Values: Power through growth and evolution. The Volic see evolution as a great thing. If they can influence evolution to produce better results, they feel satisfied in their work Structure: A cross between a college, a laboratory, and a zoo. Hundreds of years ago, a sharp line existed between the guild's experimental subjects and the researchers studying and protecting them. Since Mormig’s ascension, however, that line has blurred. The Volic are strong believers in Darwinism, and survival of the fittest. Thus, the more powerful one is, the more influence he/she/it will have in the guild. Goal: Make every living thing "better" than it already is. This cannot be completed until they have created the "perfect" living organism. The Nyathien Conclave The Nyathien Conclave believes in brotherhood, unity, and peace. They believe this so much, no person in the Conclave is more important than the other. They gain new members by evangelism, or by creating new life in the form of elementals. Exhibiting a strong dislike of individuality and technology, they believe that society should function as nature does: slowly and conservatively. They teach the old ways. To those outside the Conclave, however, they appear to be nothing more than a brainwashing nature-cult, adamantly refusing to realize that there isn't anyone who would want to join them. Also Known As: The Church Conclave Leader: The high priest, a group of some of the older members of the Church Conclave Champion: Tolkir Wolfs-Tear, with his mount Vuya. Conclave Founder: Selyna, an elemental sorcerer and priestess of the conclave Conclave Hall: Ghaziva, the City-Tree. The greatest tree in the world, magic keeps Ghaziva alive. Its trunk houses the Nyathien’s most important places. Values: Welfare of the whole. Taking into account both white's and green's concern for the community, the Conclave is perfect at both protecting their own, and nurturing them to grow stronger creatures. Structure: Decentralized, communal, collective. Within the Conclave, ideally all are equals regardless of individual roles. Goal: To achieve absolute peace with everybody being equal. The Jesur Syndicate The Jesur hold the economic reins of Bas’chiun. No matter how poor a person is the Jesur will benevolently offer whatever that person needs to survive. They remember who owes them, however, and every person who makes a deal with a member of the Syndicate will have to repay that debt some day. Like some form of magical Mafia, the Jesur use the resources taken from their debtors to finance whatever interests the Syndicate requires, but making sure that none of their "cattle" becomes too free from their grip. Also known as: The Traders Union Syndicate Leader: The Council of the Jesur. They are a group of powerful, wealthy Jesur patriarchs, and each is an archbishop and kingpin rolled into one, all vying for more influence and gold than he or she already wields. Syndicate Champion: Sonya, Jesur Scion. An ambitious and cruel mage, she uses her looks and charisma to manipulate her constituents. Syndicate Founder: Vuiler of the Council Syndicate Hall: Jesura, the central hall of the syndicate. Values: The Jesur use their oppressive social order as a means to ensure power-the Syndicate is set up to help the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. The guild’s rites and rituals, its laws and structures, exist to maintain the status quo. Structure: Oligarchic, with a sharp division between the privileged and the indentured. The guild is practically two guilds; one for the 'haves', one for the 'have not’s. Goal: Creating a peace (with itself as ruler) that nobody, except itself, can destroy. The Istot League While each of Bas’chiun’s Factions attempts to rule the city - by money, force of arms, or magical skill - the Istot are content with pure, unfettered research. As long as something exists, the Istot will stop at nothing to identify, experiment, and understand it. Because of the Istot, there are no natural disasters in the entire city -- they have figured out how to prevent them. The Istot also run Bas’chiun's infrastructure, such as the heating, waste management, and water supply systems. Because of their obsessive passion for knowledge, however, the Istot aren't methodical researchers. Excited to begin work on the next big project and clouded by their inflated egos, Istot mages will often take shortcuts in their work. This has led to all sorts of unnatural disasters. Also known as: The Universities League Leader/Founder: Nix-Istot, the Great Mind. A seemingly immortal Ghoul with a flair for inventions, he is by far the most intelligent being in Bas’chiun and will be the first to let you know of his superiority, although his temper has cost him more than his share of apprentices. He is extremely vain, as shown in how many parts of the League were crafted in his image (the name of the guild, the hall, etc.) His vast intelligence renders him eternally bored, and he allows the rest of Bas’chiun's civilization to exist for his amusement. League Champions: Dex and Luca, a powerful husband-wife wizard pair. League Hall: Nix-ist, Spire of the Great mind. This impossibly tall spire is said to be protected by the most sophisticated spells ever devised. Within its uppermost chamber, Nix-Istot holds court with his most intelligent mages, removing those who displease him. Values: The Istot are great believers in passionate study. Often this manifests in random experiments and strange revisions to reflect their ever changing minds. When an Istot scholar finds something that it wants to study, they'll start studying it with unbridled relentlessness, until they find a new thing, usually a very short time afterwards, in which case they'll drop whatever they're doing and start on the new thing. This tendency to be easily distracted is the reason many Istot experiments never get finished, but those that do tend to be grandiose and bombastic. Structure: The Istot are an association of like-minded passionate philosophers, all of whom idolize Nix-Istot’s genius and caprice. Fiery competition and the drive for knowledge keep the league’s alchemical labs and colleges humming. Goal: To learn and understand everything they desire to know. The Ger’wol Clans When the magical ink on the new constitution was still drying, the Ger’wol was intended to represent the wild, unpredictable facets of the natural world. After all, much of Bas’chiun was still natural and pristine, and the animals of the world had to be part of the future of the city. As time went by, however, the Ger’wol's power began to wane. With more and more of the wilds of Bas’chiun replaced with concrete and homes, there was less for the Ger’wol to represent. The Nyathien and Volic began to make the non-sentient their charges, and the less passionate guilds (the Athornis and Jesur) began to see the Ger’wol as less and less relevant. Now, the Ger’wol has shattered into multiple clans, with little or no connections between each other. A 'beggar's guild', Ger’wol clans raid abandoned areas, live off the resources, and move on when things run dry. Many different clans exist, but all of them consider themselves Ger’wol. Also known as: The Clans Clan “Leader”: The Ger’wol has no leader, but if they did, it would be Borgos, a Cyclops who rules the Ger’wol's largest clan. He is one of the Ger’wol's fiercest fighters, thus, this savage Cyclops is usually at the head of the largest, most destructive raids. Borgos is said to be the descendent of the legendary Cizim, though this could be simply a rumor. Clan “Champion”: Ketuhul, the Dread. A legendary kraken that inhabits ruined areas of Bas’chiun. It’s revered by the Ger’wol as a symbol of ultimate anarchy. It is not technically a member of the Clans, simply a living, breathing example of the Ger’wol beliefs. Clan Founder: Cizim, a gigantic Cyclops, was the Ger’wol Founder. Clan “Hall”: None. The Ger’wol hall was supposed to be a lodge-style hall, but it was destroyed long ago and its location has been lost to time. Now, the only thing the Ger’wol have that even comes close to a guildhall is the Pits, a palace totally demolished by the Ger’wol, the closest thing to natural landscape left on Bas’chiun and the center of Borgos' power. Values: The absolute breakdown of society. The Ger’wol clans believe that society has no place in the natural order. Call it instinct or impulse, the Ger’wol clans preach it just the same. Structure: Loose, disconnected gangs. The Ger’wol are sometimes called "the order which is not one," because they eschew any structure at all. Inside the city, the beggars’ are often loyal to the Ger’wol. Outside the city, the raiding gangs carve out swaths of smoldering ruin and rubble in which to subsist. Goal: The only law that matters in the world is the law of nature. Instinct should always overpower logic. The Athornis Senate The Athornis Senate hates action. Action, they believe, leads to crime and disorder. By developing Bas’chiun's legal system to be so complex and incomprehensible to anyone but themselves, they hope to create a system where everything, anywhere, is illegal. From the legal to military to magical, Athornis members use tactics of delay, distraction, and prevention. Also known as: The High Judges Senate Leader: Grand Justice Alistair V. Alistair has presided over the Athornis for decades, dispensing judgments with cold efficiency. He is blind, like justice should be. Senate Champion: Isp, the Inscrutable. A seemingly immortal sphinx, she provides cryptic advice to the Athornis leaders which only they can understand. Senate Founder: The Human High Judge, Athorn I Senate Hall: Hrav, Spires of Order. It is a veritable city of marble and alabaster, a maze of long, echoing corridors and domed chambers. Tight rows of soldiers, spotlessly outfitted, guard the whole campus. But it is the Senate's powerful law-magic, not the swords of its standing guard that protects Hrav. Values: The Athornis believe that their laws and the preservation of those laws are responsible for maintaining the City. In fact, they believe their rigid system of governance is responsible for keeping nearly everything in Bas’chiun running smoothly. Justice is blind, as the saying goes, and that includes the guild's blindness to dissent, chaos, and crime. Structure: Absolutely hierarchical bureaucracy. Most Athornis functionaries report to one superior and have three members that report to them, creating a pyramidal command structure. Goal: Creating absolute order by placing countless laws and rules to hinder any change of the status quo. The Cult of Radik Formed by the followers of the demon lord Radik, if someone in Bas’chiun needs mercenaries, or assassins, this murder-happy group is the only place to turn to. Their whole philosophy is wanton destruction, for the sheer pleasure of destroying things. The only reason the other factions allow the cult to exist is because Radik mines go deeper then any in Bas’chiun, pulling out precious metals which provide vast wealth. This cult glorifies in destruction. Also known as: The Thrill-killers Guild Leader/Founder: Radik the Demon lord. A fiery abomination whose origins are unknown to all but him, Radik has entertained himself with Bas’chiun's citizenry for thousands of years, maintaining a cult of personality whose numbers rarely increase only because of the guild's high mortality rate. Radik has many names, including The Enslaver, The defiler, and The Rat King. Radik stays dormant in Rax-Modik, but rises to stir up his guild into a murderous frenzy every so often. Guild Champion: Lyza, the Blood Witch, the mistress of ceremonies to the Radik party. Guild Hall: Rax-Modik, Dungeon Palace. A grotesque palace in the dank part of the under city, very few people have seen inside of the palace. Many who manage to emerge are too incoherent to describe it. It's literally a carnival of everything twisted and vile. If Hrav is the coldest place on Bas’chiun, Rax-Modik is the hottest. Values: Instant gratification. The Radik don't just want their way, they want it RIGHT NOW. Radik ideology is the quintessence of pure hedonism. Radik loves making chaos, and will use it to destroy all foes. Structure: Like an out-of-control party. The Cult's only structure is determined by those powerful enough to hold leadership. Such beings tend to have short life spans. Goal: To do whatever it wants, whenever it wants House Dominic House Dominic doesn't exist. At least, that's what members of the House want the people of Bas’chiun to believe. Even though their symbol sits alongside the other Factions, few see the House as anything but Bas’chiun’s Illuminati. Preferring indirect methods of control and knowledge acquisition, they prefer to not even be discovered. Also known as: The Unseen, The Ninth Guild House Leader & “Founder”: Dominic, the keeper of Secrets. An eldritch vampire and alleged ninth founder (alleged because few citizens on the plane are sure he even exists; the Constitution contained a clause which prohibited the other Founders officially revealing his presence) House Champion: Sirius the Mind-Taker. He makes sure those who come too close to Dominic's secrets won't remember a thing. The House: Dusk Manor, House of Shadow is a huge stronghold hidden in a vast underground chamber in the deepest, darkest region of the under city. Only the residents and their immediate underlings know its location. Values: House Dominic wants utter control of Bas’chiun. Such absolute control requires complete invisibility so as not to arouse opposition. Therefore, the house works very hard to ensure that Bas’chiun’s people don't believe the guild exists. As such the House is never straight forward in their strategy. Structure: Isolated cells. Each Dominic agent works in almost complete isolation. Often, any operative within the House has just one contact, so that none have too wide a view of its dealings. Only Dominic himself knows the House's entire scope of operations. House leaders issue commands through other magical means to preserve anonymity. Goal: To control and learn every aspect of reality. Races See Races of Bas'Chiun for more information Many races common and unusual live on Bas’chiun. Among such races are: humans, goblins, avian, “elves” (of which there are three types - Svart, Alfer, and the third whose name has been lost to time and of whom Mormig is the last descendant), ogres, demons, vampires, Lizard-men, Sphinxes, faeries, Fish-men and Cyclopes. Humans have also been known to breed with other races on Bas’chiun, and so a large number of half-elves, half-demons, and other half-human species inhabit Bas’chiun. Save for himself, Nix-Istot the Great Mind, leader of the Istot League, has hunted down Ghouls in Bas’chiun to near extinction. Geography and Locations Bas'chiun sits at the confluence of three rivers which flow east from the ice caps in the west towards the deserts to the east and south of the city. The city sprawls out across 3000 square miles and surrounds two lakes and extends below ground through numerous cave systems and mines. It boasts a population of around 35 million people of different races. Aside from the aforementioned Faction-related places, Bas’chiun, being a huge city, also houses a lot of other places: Cobble Street is a miles-long road hosting a marketplace. It is said to provide most, if not all, (legal) commodities to willing travelers and consumers. Vara was the site of an Istot bomb explosion that killed all in its immediate vicinity. Said explosion is now making strange (and secretly planned) results in the area. A plague lingers in this quarter. The Dark Market is Bas’chiun's black market that convenes every month. Bosk Alley is the longest street in Bas’chiun and host to several criminal elements in the city. Also, an annual marathon is regularly held on Gnat Alley. The Hellion is a flying ship that serves as the home of the Pirunos avians. If needed, Hellion can dock atop Sol Hall. Pmkava 02:25, 6 March 2009 (UTC) Category:Bas'chiun Category:Non Stereotypical Fantasy World